Shuttle box



Feb. 9, 1g43. w. HICKS 2,310,369

' SHUTTLE BOX Filed June '15, 1941 fi izerj. 1720 K9 Patented Feb. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHUTTLE BOX Walter L. Hicks, Trion, Ga.

Application June 13, 1941, Serial No. 397,975

1 Claim.

The invention relates to improvements in shuttle boxes aiming particularly at eliminating introduction into woven goods of kinky fillings, or jerked-in-filling, and loose end thread. At the same time, the invention aims to effect improvements in the functioning of the shuttle box in stopping a shuttle when entering under battery, making the shuttle easier to box, and at the same time protecting the shuttle on entry, to minimize likelihood of rebound of the shuttle, as well as to minimize such action in case it does occur. It is also an aim to reduce shock incident to the boxing of the shuttle, and to reduce wear on pickers, check straps and picker sticks.

As is well known, kinks are formed in the filling thread when the shuttle rebounds from the picker, by reason of the slack or loops thus caused in the thread hanging below the delivery eye of the shuttle, and so being rubbed against the sides of the box front, causing the thread to be twisted and knotted in a hard lump or knot which cannot be pulled out by friction or bristle, but is carried on into the shed and so woven into the product of the loom, with consequent fault in the goods. It is therefore an important aim of this invention to present a construction wherein such twisting of the thread Will not occur, and whereby construction utilizing conventional loom action and operative means may be employed, and only a very slight modification of the box front required, in order to attain the ends in view. In consequence, my invention may be applied to prior shuttle boxes in most instances of modern construction, and the invention may be employed in devices utilizing filling parter devices of the Stafford type, aswell as other modern improvements in box and shuttle construction without requiring modification thereof, in most instances. Reference is made to Patent No. 1,552,388 September 1, 1925; No. 1,565,218, December 8, 1925; and No. 1,565,219, December 8, 1925, for details of manner in which such parting devices may be utilized and the Stafford knife operated in conjunction with my invention. It is also an important aim of the invention to minimize likelihood of accumulation of spent thread on the box front, which is the cause of faults in weaving with prior devices, to a large extent.

Additional objects, advantages and features of invention reside in the construction, arrangement and combination of the elements of the invention, as involved in its embodiment, which will be more readily understood from the following description and accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a top view of a shuttle box at the replenishing side of a loom, my invention being" embodied in the front plate of the box.

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the front side of the box assembly of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail perspective view of the box front plate.

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional View thereof, looking. down.

Figure 5 is an elevational view of the inner face of the box front.

The invention may be employed for the attainment of its object in looms using various forms of thread parter or thread parter and clamp, constructed to act upon the thread while in the box at the replenishing side, but, as before stated, in the present instance, designed particularly so as to permit use of the Stafford knife device and box construction, although the details of the box may be greatly varied to adapt it to various situations and types of machines.

As in machines of this specific kind above mentherein a familiar form of bobbin It, on which thread I! is wound, which is to be carried by the shuttle through the shed of the loom. A front box plate I8 is shown, which, in its over-all length corresponds to the length of prior box fronts, and also in having curved ends faced with leather, or other frictional cushion material, for the usual purposes, and as indicated at I9. The plate is arranged to be mounted upon the lay I2 removably, in a manner closely corresponding to that by which prior box front plates have been mounted, but differing from these in the spacing of the clamp bolts 20, by which the box front is secured to the lay or to the racefastening bolts 20 therein by which the base is clamped securely against the supporting surface of the lay, by means of usual nuts screwed down upon the sides or edge portions of the-slot, as may be seen in Figure 1. At the outer or right hand end of the box front plate as illustrated, an upstanding wall 23 is formed, alined with the inner edge face of the base 2|, and curved forwardly at its extremity, as at 24. The Wall portion 23, is comparatively thin, but at a short distance inwardly of the outer slot 22, an upstanding thick block portion 25 is formed integrally with the base 2| and wall 23, and extending longitudinally inwardly from this in alinement with the base 2| there is an upper arm or continuous box side piece 26, which extends inwardly the full length of the box, and at its extremity, which constitutes the inner end of the box plate, it is curved forwardly as at 21. The inner face of this arm, the inner face of the wall 23, and the inner face of the base arm 2| form one continuous surface, and throughout the major portion of the length of the box lie in a common vertical plane.

The arm 26 is spaced from the base arm 2| so that a longitudinal slot 28 is formed between the two, this slot being of uniform vertical width from the extremity of the arm 2| to within a short distance of the base block 25 joining the two arms. For a distance inwardly from the block 25, the slot is increased in vertical dimension by relief of the top surface of the arm 2| as at 29, and by a similar relief of the under surface of the upper arm 26, as indicated at 30, forming an entrance in the box front plate, for the Staiford knife or clamp to catch the filling yarn when the loom is on change from old to new bobbin.

The inner face portions of the front plate as thus described, are covered throughout with the facing I9, which may be applied in one piece and secured at its extremities by rivets 3|, and additionally secured throughout its length by adhesive, in accordance with conventional practices.

As may be seen in the illustrations, although these proportions are not arbitrary, the lower arm 2| extends forwardly only a little more than one-half the length of the arm 26, and it may be made even shorter in such proportion.

Contrary to prior practice, where a short portion of the plate underlies a slot for the passage of thread, the upper arm 26 in my invention, does not pass below the level of the usual delivery eye of the shuttle, at any point, but extends as a rectilinear arm from the gate openings 32 formed by the relief portions 29 and 3D, to its extremity. By reason of the attenuation and elongation of the arm 26, it attains a certain resilience of action in receiving the shuttle in the box, in opposition to the back binder so that the efficiency of the back binder is materially increased in its braking action on the shuttle, as will be understood. The arm 26, however, is not easily flexible, and serves to retain its position relative to the final desired position of the shuttle very firmly, and only at the instant of impact of the shuttle does a slight fiexure occur, sufficient to absorb shock and prevent throwing of the back binder away from the shuttle, excessively.

In the use of a machine in which my invention is incorporated, in case of rebound of the shuttle when boxed, or in case of over-run of the bobbin thread, or formation of a loop between the selvage edge of the work on the loom and the delivery eye of the shuttle, upon return of the shuttle from the box to the shed, the loose portion of thread, tending to lie at the lower side of the delivery eye, will be moved forwardly in the slot 28, and thereafter will encounter no surface on the box by which it may be rolled between such a surface and the side of a shuttle in order to twist it together and prevent taking up of the slack by tension of the thread between the shuttle and the selvage of the fabric being woven. In consequence, such twisted knots and the like are not carried forward into the shed and are not woven into the goods upon such machine. In addition, by reason of the open way at the lower side of the front plate of the box, represented by the distance between the extremity of the arm 2| and the extremity of the arm 26, spent thread and the like will not be retained in the box or engaged so as to be carried forward into the shed, as will be readily appreciated. Jerked-in fillings likewise, will be eliminated, for the same reason, with consequent further reduction of requirement for treatment of the finished product to remove or overcome such imperfection.

While I have described and disclosed in considerable detail a specific embodiment of my invention, in its preferred form, as heretofore constructed and applied to use, it will, nevertheless, be understood that this is exemplary, and that various changes in construction, arrangement and combination of parts, substitutions of materials and substitution of equivalents may be carried out without departing from the spirit of the invention, as set forth more particularly in the appended claim.

I claim:

In a filling replenishing loom of the kind having a shuttle box at the replenishing side of the loom formed with a thread-passing and parting opening in its front wall and constructed with shuttle-engaging surfaces from end to end, a box front plate therefor consisting of an upper member continuous throughout the length of the box, and a lower member aligned with the upper member and together therewith forming the front of the box, said lower member being rigidly secured to the lay of a loom and extending from the outer ,end of the box and stopping short of the inner end of the box so as to lie close to the delivery eye of a shuttle boxed in said box, the upper and lower members being spaced to form a longitudinal slot for the purposes described, said upper member being continued beyond the lower member inwardly adjacent the level of said slot and said upper member being free at its inner end and allowing resilient yielding action under initial impact of a shuttle, but constructed to assume a fixed position against a boxed shuttle.

WALTER L. HICKS. 

